Welcome back. Was that not the longest five-week break any of you have ever experienced? I have to say that the final week before classes resumed was especially useless, though, not that eating ice cream by the carton and playing FIFA10 into the wee hours of the morning is any improvement from...well...eating ice cream by the carton and playing FIFA10 into the wee hours of the morning.
I think I did more sitting and lying down in that span of seven days than most people have done in their respective lifetimes. These idle hours in which my sweatpants and four-day-old shirt accompanied me, however, were not completely worthless as they provided me with ample time to watch a couple of genuinely exciting American football games—most notably Jets/Chargers and Saints/Vikings—and from that, the portion of my cerebrum reserved for sports knowledge successfully doubled in size (I'm the one walking around campus who looks like James Bond in DK Mode from the GoldenEye video game).
I learned that one should never bet on the Bengals in the playoffs, that the Eagles have effectively become the Atlanta Braves (pre-Andruw Jones' demise) of the NFL, and that AT&T and Verizon show the exact same maps of the United States in their commercials, just in different colors.
I learned a lot more about football over break, but these preliminary discoveries only scratch the surface of the wealth of knowledge that I eventually acquired. Here are the rest of the lessons learned so far from this postseason:
10. Peyton Manning might be the best player in NFL history
You scoff. You hiss. You boo. If you find yourself ventilating any of these expressions of disapproval, frankly, you're probably a bitter Patriots fan who is nervous that Manning winning one more Super Bowl will move him that much closer to tying—and dare I say surpassing—Tom Brady in the vital championships won department.
Either that, or you just stopped watching football after the first rou—wait, I already mentioned Patriots fans. After leading the Colts to victory with ease over a pesky Ravens team in the divisional round, Manning looked flabbergasted and helpless early on in the AFC Championship game Sunday against a preeminent Jets defense that blitzed the four-time MVP relentlessly for the majority of the first half.
But not even the league's best could stop the man who is as funny in commercials as Luke Wilson is not, as Manning rebounded from a 17-6 deficit and breezed past the Cinderella Jets, throwing for three touchdowns the rest of the game en route to the 30-17 victory.
With NFL players getting more and more athletic with each passing year, for Manning to continue to assert his dominance (against the league's top defense, no less) by making throw after throw with such exquisite precision is downright awing, and was excruciatingly unsettling for Jets fans like myself who saw the former Tennessee Volunteer debunk the myth that defense wins championships. Correction: defense wins champions...unless Peyton Manning is on the other side.
You always have to read the fine print, and in light of this new rule, Manning's second Super Bowl victory seems imminent. Sorry, New England.
9. Shades of '99
The 1999 AFC Championship game pitted the Jets against the Broncos, the NFC Championship game the Vikings against the Falcons, matchups in which the Jets and Vikings both lost. New York and Minnesota returned to their respective title games this year, only to lose once again, but the ways in which they lost were eerily similar to what we saw last millennium.
Against the Broncos in '99, the Jets were up three at halftime and at one point had a comfortable 10-point lead. Against the Colts on Sunday, the Jets were up four at halftime and at one point had a comfortable 11-point lead. Against the Falcons in '99, a promising Vikings season was extinguished in overtime by a field goal. Against the Saints on Sunday, a promising Vikings season was extinguished in overtime by a field goal. It all probably doesn't sound too peculiar, and that's what I thought initially, too...that is until I thought about the Jets final score on Sunday and compared it to the Jets final score in '99: 30-17 and 23-10...New York lost by 13 both times.
8. Rookie quarterbacks can no longer use inexperience as an excuse
The Jets' Mark Sanchez nearly became the first rookie quarterback to lead his team to the Super Bowl in NFL history, and Joe Flacco almost did it just a season ago. And let's not forget Atlanta's Matt Ryan, who last year led the Falcons to an impressive 11-5 record and their first playoff berth since 2004, and who, along with Flacco, also became the first rookie quarterback to lead his team to the postseason after starting all 16 games of the regular season. Best of luck next year with Washington, Sam Bradford.
7. Nate Kaeding is the last guy you want kicking for your team in the playoffs
Maybe Scott Norwood is the last guy, but Kaeding showed all of us once again that even if you're the most accurate kicker in football, you may still be about as reliable as A-Rod in the postseason pre-awkward I-used-steroids confession. He missed three crucial field goals against New York in San Diego's 17-14 loss two Sundays ago, and will forever have a spot reserved on my all-time Jets team.
6. Aaron Rodgers is the real deal
Sounds like an obvious claim to you die-hards out there. Well, I'm sorry. The first time I watched him play all year was against the Cardinals, and even though he lost, now I know what all the fuss has been about. The only question I have for Packers fans is which would have tasted worse: Rodgers' season-ending fumble or another Favre season-ending pick?
5. Rex Ryan has something brewing for years to come
In just his first season, the vociferous Jets head coach produced the league's best defense and the league's best running attack—perhaps the two most essential components of a championship team—and led them to their first AFC Championship game in over a decade. Quarterback Mark Sanchez will have a year of experience to put under his belt when New York begins anew next year, as will upstart running back Shonn Greene who will be taking more carries again next year behind one of football's most impenetrable offensive lines.
The Jets are young, they play great defense, and they are hungry (pardon the pun, Rex). Rest assured, if this playoff run was any indication as to what the future might hold, Ryan's Jets are just getting warmed up.
4. Brett Favre should be benched with less than 2:00 to go in NFC title games
That was one of the worst throws the future Hall of Famer has made in his career and that's saying something. What's that? Oh, FOX was unavailable on campus Sunday so you missed it? Well, wasn't that nice of the college? Don't worry though, it's not like it was a big game or anything, let alone a good one.
3. The LaDainian Tomlinson sideline demeanor of disappointment will never get old
Really, it never will. Hey, I don't care much for your attitude either, Philip Rivers...or yours, Vincent Jackson...or yours, Shawne Merriman...or yours, Shaun Phillips...
2. Williams galore for Minnesota
At one point on Sunday, I counted three players who had the name Williams stitched on the back of their white with purple trim jerseys: Pat, Kevin, and Madieu—and they were all on one side of the ball.
Three...out of eleven! That's nearly 30% of Minnesota's defense boasting the same cognomen. If we wanted to take their current season to the stage, naturally Tennessee Williams would write the play, John Williams the score, and its setting would be in Williamstown, MA at Williams College. Venus and Serena surely would be casted as cheerleaders.
1. The end of the Patriots dynasty may finally be upon us
Just how big was going for it on fourth and two? We may never know, Bill. But enough with thinking about what might have been, there's much smiling to be done!